There is nothing wrong with Mexican food per se. It resembles whole foods, has a variety of vegetables, meats etc. If there was only one food I could eat for the rest of my life, it would probably be Mexican or Vietnamese. I love the stuff. Taco Bell isn't a true rendition, but it's a lot better in my opinion that Carls Jnr.

This ain't Mexican food. It's probably not even food.

If you have a strong stomach, click on thumbnail for the full-sized assault!

There is nothing wrong with Mexican food per se. It resembles whole foods, has a variety of vegetables, meats etc. If there was only one food I could eat for the rest of my life, it would probably be Mexican or Vietnamese. I love the stuff. Taco Bell isn't a true rendition, but it's a lot better in my opinion that Carls Jnr.

Hallelujah! I actually agree with this. When I lived in California, before I became a vegetarian, I greatly enjoyed (real!) Mexican food. This was before abominations like Taco Bell became widespread. I still enjoy vegetarian versions. I often make tacos at home, using soy mince substitutes. I believe most fast food, in this case, Taco Bell, is a very poor and unhealthy imitation of the real thing. It is kept cheap by using poor substitutes for the original ingredients. In order to be 'fast' corners are cut in the preparation. That is why it tastes like cat food in cardboard, as someone described it. Even so, I am inclined to agree that it is probably better than Carls Jnr., though I don't know that from personal experience.

There is nothing wrong with Mexican food per se. It resembles whole foods, has a variety of vegetables, meats etc. If there was only one food I could eat for the rest of my life, it would probably be Mexican or Vietnamese. I love the stuff. Taco Bell isn't a true rendition, but it's a lot better in my opinion that Carls Jnr.

This ain't Mexican food. It's probably not even food.

If you have a strong stomach, click on thumbnail for the full-sized assault!

There is nothing wrong with Mexican food per se. It resembles whole foods, has a variety of vegetables, meats etc. If there was only one food I could eat for the rest of my life, it would probably be Mexican or Vietnamese. I love the stuff. Taco Bell isn't a true rendition, but it's a lot better in my opinion that Carls Jnr.

Hallelujah! I actually agree with this. When I lived in California, before I became a vegetarian, I greatly enjoyed (real!) Mexican food. This was before abominations like Taco Bell became widespread. I still enjoy vegetarian versions. I often make tacos at home, using soy mince substitutes. I believe most fast food, in this case, Taco Bell, is a very poor and unhealthy imitation of the real thing. It is kept cheap by using poor substitutes for the original ingredients. In order to be 'fast' corners are cut in the preparation. That is why it tastes like cat food in cardboard, as someone described it. Even so, I am inclined to agree that it is probably better than Carls Jnr., though I don't know that from personal experience.

I am interested in what ingredients you think are substituted? The tacos I had at TB quite a number of years ago, pretty much looked like anything taco I'd eaten anywhere else. There are some differences as there is with pretty much all bulk prepared and stored food. I didn't enjoy the taco because I felt the ingredients weren't super fresh and a lot of the sharpness or flavours had been muted as a result of both appealing to a wider audience and the fact ingredients like lettuce is cut (terrible idea) and then stored below temperatures that are ideal.

Cut lettuce is a bug bear of mine. I understand why they do it, but it bruises edges of every cut which causes faster decomposition and that horrible decaying lettuce flavour.

We only cut lettuce for 1 dish in our house, and that's a wedge salad. 4 cuts in a whole lettuce, eaten IMMEDIATELY and never used for leftovers (Not that there ever is any).

One of the best Mexican places around is the Mexico chain. I really rate them. It's not quite hole in the wall California Mexican, but it's FRESH, and Vibrant and well prepared.

I don't eat any of this type of food, however if we are an open society then why would we stop it just because its not our choice or like. If the product is not what the public want then the venture will fail. If you we don't think it is wise to eat it then educate and show the alternatives.

MikeRetired IT Manager. The views stated in my posts are my personal views and not that of any other organisation.

If you we don't think it is wise to eat it then educate and show the alternatives.

That's a thoroughly doomed strategy.Telling someone that they (or their family) don't eat "healthily" deserves its own chapter in the book of "How to Lose Friends and Alienate People".

Well assuming one has a modicum of intelligence, one presumes you don't approach it from a preachy angle such as that (because I agree, it's hardly starting on a good footing). School education is the first step. Start the knowledge much earlier in the equation. Kids don't get offended like that.

Our school has been quite.. tricky? They often slide things into homework, like "discuss with your family such and such good habit and write 3 sentences on it" etc.

Supermarkets are heading in the right direction with offering recipes etc, but I'd like to see what would happen if you had someone at the entrance, offering a recipe card, and either everything in the recipe is supplied as a single box, or the recipe is made up of seasonable ingredients that are all on a really super special, even if they were loss leaders.

I'd also wonder about incentives for people to do nutrition courses, cooking classes, budgeting courses etc.

I don't eat any of this type of food, however if we are an open society then why would we stop it just because its not our choice or like. If the product is not what the public want then the venture will fail. If you we don't think it is wise to eat it then educate and show the alternatives.

I wish people would quit thinking I want to ban stuff. I don't. I just wish there was a way to show people something better. From everything I have read and heard, a steady diet (note the word 'steady') of junk food blunts the senses and creates addiction. People lose the ability to taste what is good. They crave the added salt and fat. At this point I think they become victims.

Parents who live on junk food also pass it on to their children, who develop the same cravings and blunted taste. More victims before they even learn how to choose.

People do not start out making a neutral choice to prefer junk food. They are channelled to it by many forces. Low cost may be one. Advertising is a big one. I do not believe that people who abuse junk food (note the word 'abuse') are making a truly free choice. They are constantly being manipulated and manoeuvred by very precise advertising. This uses many of the same ploys that tobacco did, which is one of the reasons I compare them. Like tobacco packaging, which is now in the process of also being banned, the logos and decorative schemes of junk food premises are carefully worked out to maximise appeal. I don't think these places should be banned and maybe taxing consumption is a bad idea (I don't know), but I would already be delighted if just the advertising was banned. Or maybe that could be heavily taxed. I'm sure there are ways of doing this if there is a will.

I don't think consumer education alone is sufficient. I think it is a sop that those who oppose change hide behind. With the forces of advertising and other incentives, it is not a level playing field. But @networkn's comments about the food preferences of younger people are heartening. I hope he is right and it is indicative of a larger trend.

One of the (in my opinion) insidious effects of junk food is that it pushes good food aside. By good food I don't mean gourmet food, just the fresh, balanced, well-prepared home cooking style food that used to be common. People forget what good food actually tastes like. I think this is a tragedy. Junk food (or fast food or convenience food if you prefer) does have a place in modern society. But it needs to be kept in proportion. At the moment it is not and our society is suffering.

This is what I believe and I feel strongly about it. But I have said all I am going to on the subject. Anything else is just repetition.